Saadi (1184 - 1283) is one of the famous Persian poets of the medieval period. He is recognized not only for the quality of his writing, but also for the depth of his social thought.Muslih-ud-Din Mushrif ibn-Abdullah Shirazi, known as Sa'diFull name Muslih-ud-Din Mushrif ibn-Abdullah Shirazi, known as Sa'diBorn 1184 CEDied 1283/1291 CEEra Medieval eraRegion Persian scholarSchool Persian poetry, Persian literatureMain interests Poetry, Mysticism, Irfan, Metaphysics, logic, ethicsNotable ideas Saadi's work has been translated by a great number of major Western poetsAbū-Muḥammad Muṣliḥ al-Dīn bin Abdallāh Shīrāzī (1184 - 1283/1291?), better known by his pen-name as Saʿdī (Persian: سعدی), was one of the major Persian poets of the medieval period. He is recognized not only for the quality of his writing, but also for the depth of his social thoughts.-BiographyA native of Shiraz, Iran, Sheikh Sa'adī left his native town at a young age for Baghdad to study Arabic literature and Islamic sciences at the famous an-Nizzāmīya center of knowledge (1195-1226).The unsettled conditions following the Mongol invasion of Iran led him to wander abroad through Anatolia, Syria, Egypt, and Iraq. He also refers in his work to travels in India and Central Asia. Saadi is very much like Marco Polo who travelled in the region from 1271 to 1294. There is a difference, however, between the two. While Marco Polo gravitated to the potentates and the good life, Saadi mingled with the ordinary survivors of the Mongol onslaught. He sat in remote teahouses late into the night and exchanged views with merchants, farmers, preachers, wayfarers, thieves, and Sufi mendicants. For twenty years or more, he continued the same schedule of preaching, advising, learning, honing his sermons, and polishing them into gems illuminating the wisdom and foibles of his people.When he reappeared in his native Shiraz he was an elderly man. Shiraz, under Atabak Abubakr Sa'd ibn Zangy (1231-60) was enjoying an era of relative tranquility. Saadi was not only welcomed to the city but was respected highly by the ruler and enumerated among the greats of the province. In response, Saadi took his nom de plume from the name of the local prince, Sa'd ibn Zangi, and composed some of his most delightful panegyrics as an initial gesture of gratitude in praise of the ruling house and placed them at the beginning of his Bustan. He seems to have spent the rest of his life in Shiraz.- His worksThe first page of Bustan, in a manuscript that may have been produced in India during the 17th century. The page provides a praise of God; the first two lines read: "In the name of the Lord, Life-Creating, / The Wise One, Speech-Creating with the Tongue, / The Lord, the Giver, the Hand-Seizing, / Merciful, Sin-Forgiving, Excuse-Accepting."His best known works are Bustan ("The Orchard") completed in 1257 and Gulistan ("The Rose Garden") in 1258. Bustan is entirely in verse (epic metre) and consists of stories aptly illustrating the standard virtues recommended to Muslims (justice, liberality, modesty, contentment) as well as of reflections on the behaviour of dervishes and their ecstatic practices. Gulistan is mainly in prose and contains stories and personal anecdotes. The text is interspersed with a variety of short poems, containing aphorisms, advice, --- ---...